????在分類(lèi)信息網(wǎng)站Craigslist和Monster.com出現(xiàn)之前,，曾有這樣一家名為Drei Tauben Ltd的公司，提供獨(dú)有的科技行業(yè)職位招聘平臺(tái),。1991年,，克里斯托弗?弗蘭克與兩位合伙人創(chuàng)立了這家公司，花了兩年時(shí)間來(lái)打造這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù),。

????他們創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)用戶友好平臺(tái),，用人單位如果想在自己品牌下發(fā)布在線招聘廣告，可以進(jìn)行定制,。已經(jīng)開(kāi)始有收入進(jìn)賬,，而且他們還聯(lián)系到了一家科技學(xué)院協(xié)會(huì)，有意使用這一系統(tǒng),。一切看起來(lái)都充滿著希望,，他們將從市值1億美元的科技招聘廣告市場(chǎng)中分得一杯羹。

????但收入增長(zhǎng)比他們預(yù)想的慢,。每過(guò)一,、兩個(gè)月，合伙人們都必須把更多的個(gè)人資金投入到這家公司,。到了1993年秋季,，他們決定關(guān)閉公司。

????“很痛苦,，就像宣判死刑一樣,，”現(xiàn)年45歲的弗蘭克說(shuō)。如今他是美國(guó)運(yùn)通（American Express）的一位副總裁,，并著有《超越信息泛濫：聰明人的決策之道》（Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information）一書(shū),。“當(dāng)你對(duì)一件事充滿激情的時(shí)候,，你會(huì)感到它就在你的骨子里,。一旦它沒(méi)有按計(jì)劃進(jìn)行,，你會(huì)感覺(jué)非常失落?！?/p>

????關(guān)掉公司,，放棄最初曾激勵(lì)你創(chuàng)立公司的大好前景，這或許是創(chuàng)業(yè)者最難接受的事情,。本質(zhì)上,，創(chuàng)業(yè)者把“挫折”視為只是解決方案未明。如果答案其實(shí)是你不想聽(tīng)的“別干這個(gè)了”,，也許他們會(huì)視而不見(jiàn),。 縱觀小公司的創(chuàng)業(yè)史，有太多本可能成功的故事——這些公司有著出色的點(diǎn)子,，但時(shí)機(jī)尚不成熟,，或者要實(shí)現(xiàn)盈利難度太大。

????“樂(lè)觀主義既是創(chuàng)業(yè)者的寶貴財(cái)富,，也是風(fēng)險(xiǎn)所在,，”芝加哥系列創(chuàng)業(yè)家喬?格洛茨說(shuō)?！皹?lè)觀與空想僅一紙之隔,。”

????本文采訪了多位創(chuàng)業(yè)者,，總結(jié)了幾種值得警惕的典型癥狀,。如果你的公司存在這些癥狀，或許最佳的選擇是關(guān)掉公司,，重新開(kāi)始,。

曲高和寡

????回顧過(guò)去，弗蘭克認(rèn)為,，在Drei Tauben與傳統(tǒng)印刷出版物的一系列會(huì)面中,，Drei Tauben的問(wèn)題凸顯無(wú)疑。這些出版物熟知廣告業(yè)務(wù)的方方面面和那些為招聘廣告付錢(qián)的客戶,。但他們就是不理解為什么人們要上網(wǎng)找工作,，而不是打開(kāi)報(bào)紙。當(dāng)時(shí),，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的影響與今天還不可同日而語(yǔ),。

????如果你無(wú)法說(shuō)服戰(zhàn)略性合作伙伴或客戶，讓他們相信你商業(yè)模式背后的邏輯,，即便最后證明你是正確的,，又有何用？不管潛在市場(chǎng)可能有多大，你首先需要有真實(shí)而活躍的客戶給你開(kāi)支票,，不停地再開(kāi)支票,。

????“當(dāng)你試圖做出這個(gè)決定時(shí)，不管是去是留,，都不能盯著宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì),，”弗蘭克表示?！澳愕迷u(píng)估本地市場(chǎng)和目標(biāo)受眾,。有沒(méi)有收入支撐這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)？誰(shuí)是你的客戶,？”

????Before Craigslist, before Monster.com, there was Drei Tauben Ltd, a proprietary system for help-wanted advertising for technology jobs. Christopher Frank started the company with two business partners in 1991 and spent two years building the business.

????They created a user-friendly platform that could be customized by organizations that wanted to advertise job opportunities online under their own brand. Revenue started to come in and the partners had connected with an association of technology schools interested in using the system. All the signs were promising to tap into the $100 million market for technology job ads.

????But revenue was growing more slowly than they had anticipated. Every month or two, the partners had to sink more of their own money into the business. In the fall of 1993, they decided to shutter the company.

????"It was painful. It was like a death," says Frank, 45, who is currently a vice president at American Express and author of Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information. "When you're passionate about something, you feel it in your bones. When that doesn't work as planned, it just drains you."

????Closing down a business and giving up on the potential that inspired you to launch it in the first place is perhaps the hardest thing an entrepreneur can do. By nature, entrepreneurs see setbacks simply as problems whose solutions aren't yet evident. That same quality can put a blind spot when the answer is one you just don't want to hear: "Move on." The history of small business is littered with the shells of could-have-been success stories, companies built on a brilliant idea whose time hadn't come or was too challenging to execute profitably.

????"Optimism is a gift of the entrepreneur and also an occupational hazard," says Jay Goltz, a Chicago-based serial entrepreneur. "There's a very thin line between optimistic and delusional."

????From interviews with entrepreneurs, here are a few classic signs that the best choice is simply to close your small business and start fresh.

You draw blank stares

????In retrospect, Frank pinpoints his company's trouble to the series of meetings Drei Tauben had with the traditional print publications that knew the ins and outs of the advertising business as well as the clients that paid for job ads. They just couldn't understand why anyone would go online to look for a job instead of opening up a newspaper. At the time, the Internet wasn't anything like it is today.

????When you cannot convince your strategic partners nor your customers of the logic behind your business model, it doesn't matter if you're ultimately proven right. No matter how big the potential market may be, you first need real, live customers to write one check, and then a second.

????"When you're trying to make that decision, should you stay or should you go, you can't base it on the macroeconomics," Frank says. "You need to assess your local market and your target audience. Is there revenue to support the business? Who are your customers?"